


Mediator Sae

by Makira820



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-10-29 19:02:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17813702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Makira820/pseuds/Makira820
Summary: Sae is determined to help Akira and repair her relationship with Makoto, unbeknownst to her the two goals run parallel to each other.





	1. Chapter 1

"So, picking up from yesterday before we were interrupted, you said the person behind the mental shutdown case back in April was a politician? By the name of... Ooe, was it?"

Sae questioned Akira while her attention was directed at shuffling through her gathered testimony. "...Kurusu-kun?"

She looked up to discover the boy was staring off into space with a somber expression. Sae snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Hey, are you with me? I'll need every bit of information you have to build a case against Shido. That will require your full, undivided attention."

"...Right. I'm sorry." Akira began to wake from his stupor. "Where were we again?"

"Politician Ooe." Sae reiterated. "How was he responsible for the subway accident in April?"

"Right, Ooe. He conspired with Shido to take out a diplomat who sided with the current government. To do so, they triggered a mental shutdown in the engineer of the train said diplomat regularly rode on his commute." Akira explained. "In return for Shido's aid, Ooe would continue backing his campaign."

The questions continued for some time, Akira doing his best to stay focused and recall the events that transpired in Shido's palace. Upon checking her phone, Sae decided they had compiled enough testimony for today and began to organize her documents to leave. Before she stood up, however, she pondered why he seemed so... disheveled. Was he perhaps being mistreated by the correctional officers? He may be a Phantom Thief, but he's still a minor, he has rights. Sae gave him a concerned look before asking.

"...Hey?" Sae broke her usual more professional tone. "Are you okay? You seem... troubled."

Akira was quiet.

Not sensing a response any time soon, Sae made an assumption. "I know your situation isn't ideal, but please bear with-"

"Its not that." Akira interrupted. His normal composure lost to him in that momemt.

"...Then what is it?" Sae pushed further. She wondered why she was so concerned for his well being. Perhaps it was because he had been in solitary confinement for the past week, with only interrogations to break up the loneliness. Or perhaps it was because she felt obligated to see justice done and Akira's current state was a hindrance. ...Or maybe she actually cared about him.

"I..." Akira searched for the words, knowing to be careful with his selection when engaging the topic with the person sitting across from him. "I lied to someone, and I hurt her." He started. "I lied to her even though I love her. I just... I didn't want her to worry. Instead I just upset her and I'm terrified that I lost her because of it."

"...I see. This girl, she's your girlfriend?" Sae asked.

Akira nodded, afraid his voice would come out a bit too shaky.

Sae sighed, before pressing the boundaries between client and legal counsel once again.

"Perhaps I could... deliver a message?"

Akira looked at her with wide eyes. If it were anyone else he'd have jumped at the oppurtunity communicate with his girlfriend - to ask if she still loved him. But he couldn't, not with Sae. He couldn't tell her he was dating her sister; it wasnt his place to tell her. That is, if he even still had a place with Makoto.

"I-I... I couldn't possibly ask that of you. I need to live with the choices I've made. I promise not to let it get in the way of my testimony. I'm obligated to see this through as leader of the Phantom Thieves. So please... can we just call it a day?" Akira feigned exhaustion.

"...Very well. I'm sorry if I overstepped." Sae left without another word.

* * *

 

Upon arriving home, she was greeted by Makoto hurriedly wiping her face in kitchen.

"W-Welcome home sis. Dinner is almost ready."

Sae placed her things with a raised brow, then turned to face Makoto.

"Everything okay?" She gestured at her slightly puffy eyes.

Luckily Makoto had a response plan to such a question. Said response was the only reason she allowed herself to let it all out in the first place.

"Hm? Oh! I just got through cutting the onions for the curry." Then she remembered that in her teary eyed stupor she had forgotten to add onions, or even chop them in the first place. Sae was still too lost in thought to notice anyways.

What started as a small thought had become a nagging nuisance in her head. Why would Akira confide in her with his personal turmoil only to abruptly withdraw as soon as she proposed a sensible solution that would resolve his conundrum? For all he knew he had nothing left to lose, so wouldn't knowing definitively whether or not his girlfriend still cared for him help him regardless? And just why did she care so much about his personal affairs? That's the biggest question lingering in her mind.

Subconsciously she had taken these questions to the restroom to wash up before dinner. Lost in thought staring at her own quizzical expression in the mirror, she heard a knock at the door.

"Sis? Dinner is ready." Makoto informed her.

"I'll be right out." She replied.

She was welcomed by a familiar scent upon arriving to the table. Makoto had already made plates for the both of them, the sight of which solidified Sae's belief that this was the same curry Sojiro serves at Leblanc.

"Is this Leblanc curry?"

"It is." Makoto replied, pausing before deciding to continue. "Akira taught me the recipe. He had made it for us so many times while we were infiltrating palaces, so I asked him how he was able to procure so much of it without arousing suspicions from Boss. To my surprise, he said he made it himself."

"The leader of the Phantom Thieves... regularly prepared lunch for you all?" Sae asked with slight amusement in her voice.

"He did most of the time." Makoto involuntarily smiled. "...Sometimes I helped. Though... my curry isn't as good as his." She said between bites.

"You two must be good friends." Sae said with a smile.

She was happy her sister was able to make friends despite their circumstances, and even happier that she now felt comfortable discussing these things freely with her after months of secrets and being on edge. These thoughts were short lived once she remembered that the 'friend' in question was currently all alone in a confined cell after taking the fall for the rest of Phantom Thieves. All alone to torment himself over his girlfriend. Perhaps she should discuss the topic with Makoto?

After dinner, the two retreated to the couch where they told each other about their days. They had made it a goal of theirs to be more involved in each others' lives since the incident with Sae's palace and Sae's revelation of Makoto being a Phantom Thief.

There was only one secret between the two now, one Makoto had planned on telling her sister before Akira was arrested - that the two were in fact _dating_. They had planned to do it together, to face any admonishment together, and ask for Sae's blessings together. But now Makoto was alone. She couldn't possibly tell her sister without him by her side to give her strength.

Eventually the conversation got to Sae's previous meeting.

"So I met with Kurusu-kun at Juvenile Hall today." Sae said.

Makoto's attention was acutely focused on her sister. "H-How is he?" She cautiously asked.

"He... well, to be frank, he isn't doing too well." Sae explained. "All throughout his testimony he just sat there and stared off into space with a dull look in his eye."

"Has he been eating okay? Are they hurting him?!" Makoto suddenly burst out.

Sae was surprised by her sudden raised voice. "U-Uh... Yes? And no, there were no signs of abuse." Sae answered with a curious look on her face.

Makoto just looked down, trying to hide her red cheeks behind her bangs. "I-I see. Th-Thats... good..." She could hardly contain her embarrassment.

Sae looked at her before continuing. "I asked him what was troubling him, he said he was terrified."

Makoto's eyes shot back up. "Terrified?! Then no one is hurting him, but they ARE threatening him?!"

"What? No. Nobody is threatening him. Will you please calm down and let me finish?" Sae pleaded lest they'd be here all night.

"S-Sorry..." Makoto murmured with her face tilted down and hands tightly clenched in her lap.

Sae was beyond bewildered by Makoto's behavior, but continued nonetheless. "He said he's terrified because he fears that his girlfriend now resents him for lying to her. He said he never lied to her before, and only did so now as to not cause her any undue worries."

Makoto was dead silent.

"...Part of me feels to blame for his predicament." Sae suddenly admitted. "I was the one who suggested that he turn himself in to protect the rest of the Phantom Thieves-" She paused before looking at Makoto with guilt in her eyes. "...namely you."

Still Makoto was silent. She merely looked down while listening to her sister confess and trying her hardest to keep the tears currently forming in her eyes from escaping.

"If there's some way to help him with his quarrel, I wish to do it. Perhaps I could contact this girlfriend of his and deliver a message." Sae pondered the outcome for a moment. "...But then I suppose it might prove detrimental if it turns out she does in fact hate him now."

"She doesn't." Makoto found herself speaking before she even knew what to say or how to approach this. She looked up at Sae, her suppressed tears falling down her face. "I could never hate him."

Before Sae could react to or even process what Makoto had just said, Makoto looked down again, this time with her face in her palms as she began to softly weep. Sae meanwhile found herself moving closer to Makoto on the couch to do something that she hadn't done in a long time, much to her shame. She wrapped her arms around Makoto and pulled her into warm embrace as she continued to sob.

They sat like this for for a few minutes before Makoto pulled away and decided to properly explain herself to her sister.

"I-I'm sorry..." She started. "we were going to tell you eventually, but everything kept getting in the way. And then..." Makoto closed her eyes with a defeated expression. "...Christmas Eve happened. After that I just couldn't find it in me to tell you by myself. I needed him here with me. I STILL need him here with me." She looked Sae in the eyes. "...I love him."

Sae was feeling a flurry of mixed emotions. On one hand she was happy her sister was able to find someone she could share love with, and even more so that she told her about it. But as her guardian, she also felt the need to lecture her. She couldn't really do that though since becoming a Phantom Thief hasn't hurt her grades; nor was Akira the malicious horndog she believed all teenage boys to be. So she decided to just stay on the happier side of things, mostly for Makoto's sake.

"...Would you like me to deliver a message to your boyfriend?" Sae finally said.

Makoto just stared at her sister in amazement.

"H-Huh? You aren't mad?"

Sae sighed, disappointed that she had established herself as the enemy of happiness evidently.

"No, I'm not mad at you, Makoto. I'm not even mad at Kuru- at Akira-kun. I think you've both proven yourselves to be responsible young adults, so as long as it doesn't impact your studies... you have my blessings."

Makoto stared at her sister for perhaps an eternity in her head, but in reality for only a few seconds before practically throwing herself at her sister in a most undignified manner. She hugged her perhaps a little too tightly as she cried "Thank you!" into her shoulder repeatedly.

"Alright, alright, ALRIGHT! Stop squeezing me!" Sae gasped at the strength of her sister in that moment.

Makoto released her from her loving death grip before smiling bashfully. "S-Sorry!" she said.

"Goodness..." Sae groaned "you'll throw out my back before I can get your boyfriend out of Juvie."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sae meets with Akira the next day to ease his worries.

"...I think we should end things here."

It had been a long four hours of Sae asking questions, Akira focusing on the deepest confines of his memory for the answers, Sae dissecting the resulting answers and asking more questions, Akira thinking even longer for further, rinse, wash, and repeat. By the end of it all the table was just littered with papers adorning names and descriptions that Sae would have a field day going through and organizing. But that would have to wait until later, for she had another duty to fulfill during this meeting with Akira, her sister's boyfriend.

Perhaps a little too nonchalantly, Sae scooped up all the papers before neatly stacking them, putting them in a folder and putting said folder in her bag. She then put both of her elbows on the table as she leaned forward, hands interlocked, legs crossed and eyes focused intently on her sister's beau.

"So, Akira-kun, you don't mind if I address you by your given name do you?"

"It's... fine?" Akira replied with a little more inquisition than he intended.

"Good." Sae said with a slight grin. "So I spoke with your girlfriend, and she-"

"W-Wait, WHAT?!" Akira practically yelped.

Any hint of the Trickster within was sealed tightly away, deep within his soul, buried under what felt like several tons of fear of the smirking vixen sitting across from him.

' _This is where I die..._ ' He thought.

"Relax, I'm not mad. And neither is Makoto." Sae said while reaching into her bag before pulling out a neatly sealed envelope.

It was decorated with a black and white ribbon that upon closer inspection seemed to be a bunch of cartoon pandas - Buchimaru-kun, as Akira had come to learn of over the past 6 months. It was definitely from his beloved.

He cautiously took the envelope with shaking hands, scared that at any moment she'd grab his wrist and give him a death evoking "Syke!" look before stabbing him in the hand with a very, very large knife. To his relief, this scenario did not occur as he now held the envelope in his own hands, though the night is still young and ripe for stabbing.

His doubt of the situation was quelled by the sight of familiar penmanship he had seen so many times during their long study sessions. On the front of the envelope read " _Akira💙_ " with a tiny heart doodled next to it. Not too big, but not too small either. Clearly she contemplated for a while whether or not to add a heart. Akira could see her now, sitting in her room having finished the letter, but looking at it as if it lacked something. ' _A heart perhaps? But maybe thats a bit much. Would he like a heart? Would that be too amorous? Maybe just a tiny one to let him immediately know that this is a letter of passion_.' She always did overthink such things. Oh how he loved her attention to detai-

"So... are you planning on reading it sometime soon or are you just going to stare at it?" Sae suddenly interrupted. 

Akira snapped out of his daydream.

"Sorry, I just lost myself for a moment." He said before carefully undoing the ribbon.

He had learned from Makoto that you do not defile Buchimaru merchandise, as it is next to impossible to find it these days. That of course applies to stationary and decorations as well, further solidifying that she wasn't upset with him or else she wouldn't dare waste this very rare material.

He opened the letter and silently read to himself.

_"Dear Akira,_

_Firstly, I want to start off by answering that silly question of yours: No, I don't hate you. I could never hate you for what you did. The only thing that upset me was not having you with me, and that most certainly was NOT your fault. I trust my sister will try her hardest to prove your innocence so we can be together again. Which brings me to the second, possibly more awkward, portion of this letter. My sister... knows. I told her everything. I know we planned to tell her together but I couldn't help it all just slipping out as soon as she asked me about 'Kurusu-kun's girlfriend'. Sorry... but don't worry! She was surprisingly understanding, all things considered. She even gave us her blessings if you can believe it. So please, don't worry about a thing. I'm alright, we're alright, and you will soon also be alright. I love you with all my heart and nothing will ever change that._

_Always your's,_

_Makoto"_

Akira tried his hardest to maintain his composure in front of Sae, but unfortunately couldn't keep a few tears from escaping. He removed his glasses to wipe his eyes, only to find Sae sliding a box of tissues across the table without breaking her fixation on him.

"Thank you." He said whilst wiping his face.

"Should I assume those are tears of relief?" Sae inquired.

"Yeah, something like that." He said with his first smile since spending that last evening with Makoto.

Then it hit it him. She knows. Sae knows _everything_. He immediately fixed his glasses and sat up straight before nervously asking a redundant question.

"So... you know that I'm... dating your sister?"

"That is correct." Sae answered, her expression unchanged.

Akira looked at her with a puzzled face.

"...And you seriously aren't mad?"

"No, why would I be?" Sae asked.

Akira scoffed. "I dated your sister for _months_  without your knowing. Me, someone with a criminal record. Your sister was doing god knows what with some juvenile delinquent, and you aren't furious?"

He had expected significantly more yelling to accompany this revelation, and yet here sat Sae, as calm as could be while he listed all the reasons she had every right to be livid. She just listened, occasionally nodding to his proposal of the proper procedure of vetting your sister's boyfriend. It was all perfectly sound of course, except he was missing one crucial detail that negated it all. Sae placed her hand on the table in front of him, getting his attention, before kindly saying something that he most definitely did not expect to hear from her.

"I trust you."

Akira blinked several times, stunned by her words. They were warm, almost motherly. It felt bad to admit they didn't seem like her at all. He just looked at her, astounded.

Sae took this as a signal to explain. "You were there for my sister when I wasn't. You made her feel wanted when I couldn't. You made her happy when all I've ever done since becoming her legal guardian is nag and pressure her. I'm a failure as an older sister, but you? I'd be hard pressed to call you anything other than a perfect boyfriend."

Akira didn't feel like he deserved such praise from her, nor did he feel she was giving herself enough credit where it's due.

"Maybe... we're both a little hard on ourselves when it comes to Makoto." He said.

Sae gave him a half-smile. "...I suppose we are."

They talked like this for a little while longer, exchanging insight on each other's self-evaluated short comings, all the while taking solace in one thing. Should either of them ever falter again, Makoto would always have someone around to make her feel loved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So part 2 is a bit shorter. I went back and forth as to which side of Sae I wanted to portray and... I think I'm happy with this? Definitely want to dabble with more Sae/Akira respectful relations in the future.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first story. I might make a part 2 where Sae and Akira have nice 'chat' the next day if theres interest. Constructive criticism is appreciated, I want to get better at this.


End file.
